Baie Hanavave, Fatu Hiva

This bay is advertised by the French as the most beautiful bay in the world. They are probably right.

Curtains of rock enclose the bay on three sides.

Spires and pillars tower above the tiny village among the palms.

While most of this landscape is the domain of birds and goats…

there is a rift in the mountain wall cut by a cold stream

and a path into the jungle beyond.

It’s a challenging anchorage. We dropped the hook in 90 ft and payed out 200 ft of chain plus 100 ft of rode. The steep walls of the valley funnel very strong gusts into the anchorage. Most nights it rained intermittently leaving the sleeper with the options of wet and cool or dry(er) and hot.